My Brother

Documentary in which brothers Harry and Micha de Winter discuss their shared past during a trip through Germany. The brothers walk about 100 kilometers from former concentration camp Sachsenhausen near Berlin to the town of Havelberg. In doing so, they are literally following in the footsteps of their father, chemist Max de Winter. He made the same trek in May 1945. After Max de Winter was liberated from Sachsenhausen by the Red Army, he wanted to return to the Netherlands as soon as possible. Not least to find out if his wife, Chelly Francken, was still alive. Even after weeks of waiting, help from the Dutch authorities remained forthcoming. Thereupon Max decided to take matters into his own hands: he left for the West, on foot. Greatly emaciated and weakened, he reached the town of Havelberg on the Elbe River. Across the river, he was met by the U.S. Army. When Harry and Micha found a map showing the route from Sachsenhausen to Havelberg after the death of their parents, Micha conceived the plan for a reconstruction of this walk. For a long time, Harry did not want to concern himself too much with the Shoah and refused. But since he became seriously ill, that changed. So in the summer of 2022 -which would turn out to be Harry's last summer- the brothers went on the walk. During the trip they looked back on their lives and those of their resilient parents. For despite the horrors they both went through, they never wanted to burden their sons with their heartbreaking experiences during the Shoah.